Large screen displays may be defined as any dynamic display that can be viewed by more than one person and is at least two feet wide. The large screen display market is diverse, with many differing products and technologies, each having certain strengths and weaknesses, competing to fill the needs of the end user. Applications requiring outdoor use in direct sunlight have traditionally been served best by cathode ray tube (CRT) or light emitting diode (LED) displays, while indoor applications may be served by video walls or front/rear projection systems. Fiber optic large screen displays, however, offer substantial improvements over current CRT- and LED-based displays, due to their smaller depth, lighter weight, and elimination of sensitive and expensive electronic components from the surface of the display, while delivering superior resolution and adequate brightness for direct sunlight applications. Fiber optic large screen displays are also superior to xe2x80x9cvideo wallsxe2x80x9d (arrays of discrete television monitors) because of the lack of mullions, improved brightness, more rugged design, and thinner construction. Finally, fiber optic displays have an advantage over projection systems in that the display unit can be easily moved and easily installed. Whatever the enabling technology, large screen displays represent a currently robust market that is projected to grow substantially in the future.
Traditional large screen displays are flat screen displays. However, market demands, as well as certain architectural constraints, may also affect the choice of large screen display technology for a particular venue. For instance, not all milieus are best served by flat screens. A large screen display technology that is adaptable to contoured architectural milieus of various configurations will, in turn, increase the number and scope of possible applications for an already widely used and valued technology.
As evidenced by the constantly changing aesthetics of architectural design (e.g., the impact of Frank Gehry""s design for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain), large screen display technology needs to be equally adaptive to non-traditional display milieus. The ability to fabricate and deploy both planar and contoured large screen displays will result in almost limitless applications in public venues, with greatly expanded market share. There is a need for a way to make large screen displays that are contoured rather than planar, or are comprised of both planar and contoured areas.
Previous attempts at constructing contoured large screen displays with uniform, distortion-free images have recognizable shortcomings. In the example of modular xe2x80x9cvideo walls,xe2x80x9d a contoured display ensemble will include significant and distracting gaps between the monitors or xe2x80x9cpicture blocks,xe2x80x9d as well as significant image distortion if the image is presented on two or more units of the video wall grid. One example is the NASDAQ exterior display in New York City""s Times Square at the time of the filing of this application, where a viewer standing very close or at an unusual viewing angle observes considerable distortion, even though this sign is used primarily to present alpha-numeric data rather than graphics or video. The distortion is even more present if the contours of the display follows multiple planes. Therefore, there is a need for a way to make a contoured display that presents a uniform, distortion-free picture.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the invention features an apparatus for use in contoured architectural milieus, or other locations where a contoured large screen display is desired, including a contoured large screen display having a mounting means to which modular display tiles are attached, at least one of the modular flat display tiles has diverse or non-standard shapes and sizes, and each display tile having a plurality of optical fibers affixed behind the tile and in communication with a front surface of the tile to form a matrix comprising a plurality of points having a pitch between each point.
Another embodiment of the present invention features a contoured large screen display apparatus for display of a substantially uniform, substantially distortion-free image including: modular display tiles attached to a contoured mounting means, the ordered placement of which tiles is determined by the shape and size of the contoured large screen display; fiber optic strands fixedly attached to the display tiles and communicating with the front surfaces of the display tiles, with pitch variations between the individual fibers, the various pitches being determined by the positions of the display tiles on the contoured large screen display and, in particular by the positive or negative radius of curvature of the surface contour of the display at the placement location of each display tile.
Another embodiment of the present invention features the use of software, optical lenses, and/or refractive micro-lens arrays in the creation and projection of display images with the intention of eliminating image distortion on the contoured large screen display.